Friday, September 12, 2003

Richest Imaginable Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge

Been testing recipes the last day or so for my cookbook-in-progress on fudge. The peanut butter chocolate fudge is exquisite when premium ingredients, such as Laura Scudder Natural Peanut Butter (crunchy!), C&H Professional ultrafine baker's sugar and Ghirardelli chocolate, are used. I am thinking of naming it the Richest Imaginable Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge.

Also made a white almond fudge, with cream cheese and powdered sugar as the base. The taste is extraordinary, and the recipe is almost too simple. Cookbook buyers want complex, I hear, so it will need a few more ingredients. I did add a smidge of half-and-half to the recipe, and topped it with toasted, sliced almonds. Please email me with name suggestions for this fudge. (No, I don't have samples to send. Honest...it is not necessary to taste it in order to name it.

The news headlines this morning include the death of comedic actor John Ritter. I grew up watching him on "Three's Company." He was funny and talented, and a decent guy from all reports. I enjoyed his performance in the obscure film "They All Laughed," directed by Peter Bogdanovich and released in 1981.
His sudden death seems premature and a bit shocking to this fellow baby boomer.

One of the nice things about getting older: you learn how to get yourself past sadness and loss. I rode my bike 4.5 miles, read from my Bible, and then of course, baked a cake. Carrot cake from a Betty Crocker Super Moist mix, plus added cinnamon, freshly ground cloves and a touch of ginger. Our Friday Night group is benefitting greatly from my recipe testing and life coping.